Edwin Kentfield

Edwin Kentfield
birthday	before 1810
place of birth	Yorkshire
date of death	1873
nationality	England
Success in English Billiards
Active time	19th century
World championships	professional world champion 1825
Highest series	196

Edwin "Jonathan" Kentfield (* before 1810 in Yorkshire ; † 1873 ) was an English English Billiards player , who in 1825 became the first player to win the professional English Billiards World Championship .

Career

The former Kentfield Billiard Rooms on Manchester Street, Brighton (2013)

Born in Yorkshire , Kentfield spent much of his adult life in Brighton . He was always considered a man with “fine taste” and was interested in horticulture , among other things . In Brighton, he owned a pool hall on Manchester Street , and he sold subscriptions to use it. He had this pool hall built in Kemptown in 1810. In 1825 Jack Carr was looking for a challenger for a title comparable to today's professional English Billiards World Championship . Kentfield, who had previously played a game against Carr on his visit to Brighton, then contacted Carr to play the first title holder of the World Cup between the two of them. However, Carr died the day before the game started, so Kentfield was declared world champion. He is considered to be one of the first billiards players who were able to live from their winnings, a professional player, so to speak.

During his playing career, Kentfield worked with the pool table manufacturer John Thurston . With Kentfield as a kind of professional advisor, Thurston became one of the leading pool table manufacturers of its time. In return, Kentfield was always able to equip its pool halls with the latest equipment. Both of them also developed different ideas together, with the aim of improving the playing conditions, especially with regard to the equipment. A side effect of these improvements was, among other things, a faster game pace. Together they developed a form for the pool tables at regular size (full-size table) , which became the standard.

In addition, Kentfield was responsible for ensuring that smaller pockets for the balls in English Billiards prevailed. The intention of this change was to make the spot stroke more difficult (see below). He also supported the introduction of slate as a material for the underlay of the playing surface at the billiard table, improved lighting of the table, a rougher material for the pockets of the table and larger billiard balls . In 1839 Kentfield, still reigning world champion for lack of challengers, published a book whose very long official title is abbreviated to The Game of Billiards Scientifically Explained . With a foreword by John Thurston, Kentfield covers, among other things, various pushing techniques and a wide variety of international billiards. A total of six editions had appeared by 1886.

It was not until 1849 that Kentfield was challenged for his world championship title, by John Roberts Sr. Roberts Sr. was already enjoying a great reputation as an English Billiards player at that time. Although he could keep up in friendly games with Roberts and a game against Roberts would have been financially profitable, Kentfield ultimately decided against accepting the challenge. The reason for this was probably Kentfield's assumption that he was worse off as a "defeated ex-world champion" than a "voluntarily resigned world champion", because Kentfield probably assumed that Roberts was the significantly better player. Thus he lost his world title without a fight in favor of Roberts, who in turn was now reigning world champion.

In the early 1860s, Kentfield owned his pool hall in Brighton. But financially he was badly off. He was declared bankrupt on October 26, 1863. Two years later it came to a court hearing chaired by James Rigg Brougham . Kentfield died in 1873.

Style of play

It is not known whether Kentfield was actively involved in the development of the game of English billiards. He himself was quite adept at using the spot stroke . With this type of punch, which was very popular at the time, the red was punched over and over again from its spot (after each punch, the referee put it back again). Since the number of consecutive spot strokes was not limited until 1898 , Kentfield was able to achieve a comparatively high number of points in a row. Nonetheless, he worked to ensure that this thrust was not spread too widely. Among other things, he made the pockets of the billiard tables in his pool hall smaller in order to make the spot strokes more difficult. In addition, he made no effort to further develop this pushing technique. The reason for this attitude was probably the assumption that excessive use of spot strokes would make the game more boring and thus reduce the popularity of the sport in the long term. A similar opinion was held by John Roberts Jr. Kentfield's favorite type of kick was losing hazard , in which the kicked ball ideally falls into a pocket after contact with another ball. Kentfield preferred to play the Losing Hazard "with gentle strength". In general, gentleness was also one of Kentfield's strengths. In addition, he regularly played quite high breaks for the time. His record number of points was 196 points with one recording. Furthermore, Joseph Bennett wrote in his Billiards , published in 1899 , that Kentfield should have been "unbeatable in the one-pocket game ". In this variant, played with a cue ball and 15 object balls, the balls were only allowed to be punched in a previously selected pocket.

It is difficult to compare Kentfield with other top players of the later years. On the one hand, playground equipment and techniques were insufficiently developed in Kentfield's time, which changed significantly within a few decades. As far as is known, Kentfield did not play a single game against later top players that could be used as a comparison. A certain Mr. Mardon , who had watched a game played by Kentfield, later described the style of play as unique and impressive. John Roberts Sr. later wrote that Kentfield's game was "very artistic" and made use of the spin and return. Most of the time Kentfield could do without a lot of queue power, and rarely did he play very powerful shots that were "brilliant". On occasion, he also liked to play kicks in the Baulk area, the area above the Baulk line (see "Description" in the snooker table article ). However, he did make mistakes. Nevertheless, Kentfield always had the game in mind. For Sydenham Dixon, who in 1905 wrote an article on the history of English Billiards for the English Billiards volume of the Badminton Library book series , Kentfield was a "genius" and a role model for subsequent generations of players. His decision not to accept Roberts' challenge was evidence of good judgment.

Publications

• Edwin Kentfield: The Game of Billiards: Scientifically Explained, and Practically Set Forth, in a Series of Novel and Extraordinary Strokes; and Illustrated by Numerous Appropriate Diagrams. To which is added the Rules and Regulations which govern the Numerous Games as they are played at the Present Day in all Countries of Europe . Smith, Elder & Co., London 1839 ( eaba.co.uk - up to fourth edition 1848 from Smith, Elder & Co. Fifth edition 1850 from John Thurston (London), sixth edition 1886 from Thurston & Co. and Alfred Boot & Son (both London)).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} The Professional Championship. English Amateur Billiards Association, April 14, 2013, accessed June 2, 2021 .  
2. ↑ Komedia opens its archive. Chortle, April 1, 2019, accessed June 3, 2021 .  
3. ^ ^{A b c d} Norman Clare: Kentfield & Carr. Billiard & Snooker Heritage Collection, accessed June 2, 2021 (English, originally written in 1982, later published in Cue World magazine , and republished even later as part of this collection on its website).  
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Sydenham Dixon: History of Billiards . Ed .: Major William Broadfoot (=  Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort , AET Watson [Ed.]: Badminton Library . Volume 27 ). Longmans, Green & Co., London & Bombay 1906 ( eaba.co.uk - number of pages unknown [see also: Gary Clarke: A Billiards & Snooker Compendium. Paragon Publishing, Rothersthorpe 2008, ISBN 978-1-899820-46-7 , P. 118 f.]).
5. ↑ Snooker Facts. Macclesfield & District Snooker League, accessed June 2, 2021 .  
6. ^ Gary Clarke: A Billiards & Snooker Compendium . Paragon Publishing, Rothersthorpe 2008, ISBN 978-1-899820-46-7 , pp. 99 f .
7. ^ ^{A b} Walter Thomas Morgan: Roberts, John (1823-1893), billiards player. In: Dictionary of Welsh Biography . National Library of Wales , 1959, accessed June 2, 2021 .  
8. ^ The Bankruptcy Act, 1861. Notice of Dividend Meetings. In: The London Gazette . June 2, 1865, p.  2899 ( thegazette.co.uk [PDF]).
9. ^ Definitions of terms (QRS) used in Snooker and English Billiards. www.snookergames.co.uk, accessed June 2, 2021 .  
10. ↑ definition of terms (HIJKL) used in snooker and English billiards. www.snookergames.co.uk, accessed June 2, 2021 .  
11. ↑ ^{a b} Joseph Bennett : Billiards . 7th edition. Thos. De La Rue & Co., London 1899 ( eaba.co.uk - page number unknown).